BARTON, old English law. The demesne¹ land of a manor²; a farm distinct from the mansion³.

BASE. Something low; inferior. This word is frequently used in composition; as base court, base estate, base fee, &c.

BASE COURT. An inferior court, one not of record. Not used.

BASE ESTATE, English law. The estate which base tenants⁴ had in their lands. Base tenants were a degree above villeins, the latter being compelled to perform all the commands of their lords; the former did not hold their lands by the performance of such commands. See Kitch. 41.

BASE FEE, English law. A tenure⁵ in fee at the will of the lord. This was distinguished⁶ from socage free tenure. See Co. Litt. 1, 18.

BASILICA, civil law. This is derived⁷ from a Greek word, which signifies imperial constitutions. The emperor Basilius, finding the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian too long and obscure, resolved to abridge⁸ it, and under his auspices⁹ the work proceeded to the fortieth book, which, at his death, remained unfinished. His son and successor, Leo, the philosopher, continued the work, and published it in sixty books, about the year 880. Constantine Porphyro-genitus, younger brother of Leo, revised the work, re-arranged it, and republished it, Anno Domini, 910. From that time the laws of Justinian ceased to have any force in the eastern empire, and the Basilica were the foundation of the law observed there till Constantine XIII, the last of the Greek emperors, under whom, in 1453, Constantinople was taken by Mahomet the Turk, who put an end to the empire and its laws. Histoire de la Jurisprudence Etienne, Intr. a 1'etude du Droit Romain, §LIII. The Basilica were written in Greek. They were translated into Latin by J. Cujas (Cujacius) Professor of Law in the University of Bourges, and published at Lyons, 22d of January, 1566, in one vol. fo.

BASTARD¹⁰. A word derived from bas or bast, signifying abject¹¹, low, base; and aerd, nature. Minshew, Co. Lit. 244; a. Enfant de bas, a child of low birth. Dupin. According to Blackstone, 1 Com. 454, a bastard in the law sense of the word, is a person not only begotten¹², but born out of lawful¹³ matrimony. This definition does not appear to be complete, inasmuch as it does not embrace the case of a person who is the issue of an illicit¹⁴ connection, during the coverture of his mother. The common law, says the Mirror, only taketh him to be a son whom the marriage proveth to be so. Horne's Mirror, c. 2, §7; see Glanv. lib 8, cap. 13 Bract. 63, a. b.; 2 Salk. 427;, 8 East, 204. A bastard may be perbaps defined to be one who is born of an illicit union, and before the lawful marriage of his parents.

2. A man is a bastard if born, first) before the marriage of his parents; but although he may have been begotten while his parents were single, yet if they afterwards marry, and he is born during the coverture, he is legitimate¹⁵. 1 Bl. Com. 455, 6. Secondly¹⁶, if born during the coverture, under circumstances which render it impossible that the hushand of his mother can be his father. 6 Binn. 283; 1 Browne's R. Appx. xlvii.; 4 T. R. 356; Str. 940 Id. 51 8 East, 193; Hardin's R. 479. It seems by the Gardner peerage case, reported by Dennis Le Marebant, esquire, that strong moral improbability that the hushand is not the father, is sufficient to bastardize the issue. Bac. Ab. tit. Bastardy¹⁷, A, last ed. Thirdly, if born beyond a competent time after the coverture has determined¹⁸. Stark¹⁹. Ev. part 4, p. 221, n. a Co. Litt. 123, b, by Hargrave & Butler in the note. See Gestation²⁰.

3. The principal right which bastard children have, is that of maintenance from their parents. 1 Bl. Com. 458; Code Civ. of Lo. 254 to 262. To protect the public from their support, the law compels the putative²¹ father to maintain his bastard children. See Bastardy; Putative father.

4. Considered as nullius filius, a bastard has no inheritable blood in him, and therefore no estate can descend²². to him; but he may take by testment, if properly described, after he has obtained a name by reputation. 1 Rop. Lew. 76, 266; Com. Dig. Descent, C, l2; Ie. Bastard, E; Co. Lit. 123, a; Id. 3, a; 1 T. R. 96 Doug. 548 3 Dana, R. 233; 4 Pick. R. 93; 4 Desaus. 434. But this hard rule has been somewhat mitigated²³ in some of the states, where, by statute²⁴, various inheritable qualities have been conferred upon bastards²⁵. See 5 Conn. 228; 1 Dev. Eq. R. 345; 2 Root, 280; 5 Wheat.. 207; 3 H. & M. 229, n; 5 Call. 143; 3 Dana, 233.

5. Bastards can acquire the rights of legitimate children only by an act of the legislature. 1 Bl. Com. 460; 4 Inst. 36.

6. By the laws of Louisiana, a bastard is one who is born of an illicit union. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 27, 199. There are two sorts of illegitimate cbildren; first, those who are born of two persons, who, at the moment such children were conceived, might have legally contracted marriage with each other; and, secondly, those who are born from persons, to whose marriage there existed at the time, some legal impediment. Id. art. 200. An adulterous bastard is one produced by an unlawful connexion between two persons, who, at the time he was conceived, were, either of them, or both, connected by marriage with some other person or persons. Id. art. 201. Incestuous bastards are those who are produced by the illegal connexion of two persons who are relations within the degrees prohibited by law. Id. art. 202.

7. Bastards, generally speaking, belong to no family, and have no relations; accordingly they are not subject to paternal²⁶ authority, even when they have been acknowledged. See 11 East, 7, n. Nevertheless, fathers and mothers owe alimony. to their children when they are in need. Id. art. 254, 256. Alimony is due to bastards, though they be adulterous or incestuous, by the mother and her ascendants. Id. art. 262.

8. Children born out of marriage, except those who are born from an incestuous or adulterous connexion, may be legitimated²⁷ by the subsequent marriage of their father and mother, whenever the latter have legally acknowledged them for their children, either before the marriage or by the contract of marriage itself. Every other mode of legitimating²⁸ children is abolished. Id. art. 217. Legitimation²⁹ may even be extended to deceased children who have left issue, and in that ease, it enures to the benefit of that issue. Id. art. 218. Children legitimated by a subsequent marriage, have the same rights as if born during the marriage. Id. art. 219. See, generally, Vin. Abr. Bastards Bac. Abr. Bastard; Com. Dig. Bastard; Metc. & Perk³⁰. Dig. h. t.; the various other American Digests, h. t.; Harr. Dig. h. t.; 1 Bl. Com. 454 to 460; Co. Litt. 3, b.; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t., And Access; Bastardy; Gestation; Natural Children.